There has been some debate in recent years regarding the abolishing of grades in college. Proponents argue that grade inflation has become rampant, especially in Ivy League colleges where getting a 4.0 may not necessarily reflect a mastery of the material. Different colleges also have different standards for giving grades, meaning that the grades are not objective. This makes it harder for
. graduate and professional schools to judge which applicants have a stronger academic foundation than others.Studies have shown that a focus on grades can lead to a decreased interest in learning for the sake of learning itself. The field of motivational psychology has plenty of evidence to suggest that when people get rewarded for completing a task, they are much less likely to take interest in completing the task itself. In much the same way, getting grades can lead to a fixation on the grade itself, and not the knowledge of the material.Also, competition over getting good grades can lead to a diminished sense of collaboration and willingness to help other students. Concern over receiving high grades, in order to matriculate to graduate school, can lead students to become unwilling to help others. This is particularly evident among pre-medical students in the U.S.Sometimes, in classes where old exams are still circulating and only a limited set of students have access to them, the meaning of getting a good grade is diminished. That is, if professors still use questions from old exams, those students that have a copy of an old exam are at a significant advantage in comparison to those who do not. This can throw off a grading curve, as the mean of the test can be deceptively high, while many students that do not have old exams are still suffering.There are many arguments in favor of abolishing college grades, and several universities around the country have taken this into consideration when planning their curriculum and standards. Some small, liberal colleges have already incorporated this and found that it resulted in improved learning. More reference links: http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/fdtd-g.htm https://webspace.utexas.edu/hcleaver/www/inflation.html
